Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 23, Issue 1, August 1994, Pages 1-13
Appetite

Regular Article
Social Facilitation of Eating Among Friends and Strangers

https://doi.org/10.1006/appe.1994.1030Get rights and content

Abstract

Research suggests that meals eaten with other people are larger than meals eaten alone. The effect of group size and acquaintance on consumption was investigated by serving dinner to female subjects alone, in pairs or in groups of four. Subjects dined alone, with friends or with strangers. Subjects in both pairs and groups of four ate more than did subjects alone, suggesting that the mere presence of others is more important in enhancing intake than the specific number of people present. Subjects with friends ate more dessert than subjects with strangers, indicating that the relationship of dining companions is an important factor contributing to social facilitation.

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Cited by (167)

  • The social facilitation of eating: why does the mere presence of others cause an increase in energy intake?

    2021, Physiology and Behavior
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    Eating socially may similarly disrupt cognitive controls over food intake, and so it is reasonable to predict that people with higher levels of dietary restraint might be more susceptible to social facilitation effects on food intake. However, contrary to this prediction, several studies have found no evidence that social facilitation of eating is moderated by dietary restraint [34,36,44]. However, Vartanian and colleagues [45] found that restrained eaters were more responsive than were unrestrained eaters when exposed to a high intake social norm: when eating with a confederate who ate a large amount, restrained eaters were more likely to model this high intake norm than were unrestrained eaters.

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